Alex Camlin’s inspiration
BNN Pattern series
Tokyo publisher BNN has a great series of clip-art pattern books. Each book comes with a CD-ROM of 80-100 hi-res images. The books are basically specimens; each page has a full-bleed color reproduction of one of the images on the disc.
Some of my favorites are Grain, Camouflage, Chiyogami, and 2Tone Vision Warping Patterns!
Hennessey + Ingalls sells the BNN Pattern series in the US.
Tokyo publisher BNN has a great series of clip-art pattern books. Each book comes with a CD-ROM of 80-100 hi-res images. The books are basically specimens; each page has a full-bleed color reproduction of one of the images on the disc.
Some of my favorites are Grain, Camouflage, Chiyogami, and 2Tone Vision Warping Patterns!
Hennessey + Ingalls sells the BNN Pattern series in the US.
Link: BNN Pattern
Vintage posters at the LOC
The Library of Congress's Online Print and Photo Catalog has a collection of great old posters from the WPA, Civilian Defense, and some other sources that were cranking them out in the 1930s and 40s. Many images are uncompressed medium-to-high resolution tiff files. All are free to the public.
The Library of Congress's Online Print and Photo Catalog has a collection of great old posters from the WPA, Civilian Defense, and some other sources that were cranking them out in the 1930s and 40s. Many images are uncompressed medium-to-high resolution tiff files. All are free to the public.
The KLF
Probably best remembered for their 1991 pop hit "3AM Eternal", the Kopyright Liberation Front also wrote "The Manual: How To Have A Number One the Easy Way", which is a step by step guide to producing a No.1 single with no money or musical skills (and a thinly-veiled rip on the music industry). In addition, they recorded the seminal trance album "Chill Out" (1990).
In 1994, as a heavily-publicized "final act", they burned £1 Million in cash (said to be the liquid profits of their music career) on the Scottish island of Jura. This was memorialized in a film "Watch the K Foundation Burn a Million Quid" and book. They simultaneously deleted their entire catalog of music in the UK, where it is still unavailable, and therefore unable to chart and therefore unplayable on commercial radio.
Totally extreme behavior, because very few people cared. There's something pure in their deconstruction, I think.
The link below has more, and there's also a site. Not sure if it's legit.
Probably best remembered for their 1991 pop hit "3AM Eternal", the Kopyright Liberation Front also wrote "The Manual: How To Have A Number One the Easy Way", which is a step by step guide to producing a No.1 single with no money or musical skills (and a thinly-veiled rip on the music industry). In addition, they recorded the seminal trance album "Chill Out" (1990).
In 1994, as a heavily-publicized "final act", they burned £1 Million in cash (said to be the liquid profits of their music career) on the Scottish island of Jura. This was memorialized in a film "Watch the K Foundation Burn a Million Quid" and book. They simultaneously deleted their entire catalog of music in the UK, where it is still unavailable, and therefore unable to chart and therefore unplayable on commercial radio.
Totally extreme behavior, because very few people cared. There's something pure in their deconstruction, I think.
The link below has more, and there's also a site. Not sure if it's legit.
Link: Wiki on KLF
Miniature Chairs
More vinyl...this time, for the sophisticated set. Reac Japan is up to their fifth series of these miniature designer chairs (series two is pictured). All of the classics are included: Le Corbusier's LC2 sofa, the Zig Zag Stoel, Charles Rennie MacKintosh's Hill House Chairs, and many Eames designs, etc., etc. At $12.99 a pop, it's really a guilty pleasure. These are also packaged as a "blind assortment"...so risky, but so seductive.
More vinyl...this time, for the sophisticated set. Reac Japan is up to their fifth series of these miniature designer chairs (series two is pictured). All of the classics are included: Le Corbusier's LC2 sofa, the Zig Zag Stoel, Charles Rennie MacKintosh's Hill House Chairs, and many Eames designs, etc., etc. At $12.99 a pop, it's really a guilty pleasure. These are also packaged as a "blind assortment"...so risky, but so seductive.
Link: Reac Japan
Bent World Vandals
In the tradition of Dunnys and all that Kidrobot stuff, MAD's Bent World Vandals are vinyl toys with something special for all the designer kids out there—the first ever Sharpie action figure (see image, far right)! All of the marker, brush and spray-can characters in the series come in new and used condition. Kidrobot distributed a line of figures called Fatcap from Montana Colors around the same time (end of last summer)—which were basically Dunnys with spray-can caps for heads—but I like this series better. As with the Fatcaps, MAD's Vandals also have ball bearings inside so they sound like a real can or paint pen when you shake 'em! Genius. Both of these collections are packaged as a "blind assortment" (like Dunnys), so all the boxes are the same, with no indication of which figure is inside.
In the tradition of Dunnys and all that Kidrobot stuff, MAD's Bent World Vandals are vinyl toys with something special for all the designer kids out there—the first ever Sharpie action figure (see image, far right)! All of the marker, brush and spray-can characters in the series come in new and used condition. Kidrobot distributed a line of figures called Fatcap from Montana Colors around the same time (end of last summer)—which were basically Dunnys with spray-can caps for heads—but I like this series better. As with the Fatcaps, MAD's Vandals also have ball bearings inside so they sound like a real can or paint pen when you shake 'em! Genius. Both of these collections are packaged as a "blind assortment" (like Dunnys), so all the boxes are the same, with no indication of which figure is inside.
Link: MAD Toy Design
Tags
anarchy animation anti-capitalism book design books clip-art design design writing dunny eames graffiti information architecture interactive japanese kidrobot midcentury modern music pattern performance art pop posters propaganda retro semiotics signs studio one symbols type typography vinyl vinyl toys
About Me:
- Working on:
being somebody's dad - Listening to:
Cymande / Mood Mosaics / Dusty Fingers / Cadence Weapon / Kings Of Pressure / Sly And The Family Stone - Reading:
eye / The Baby Owner's Manual / baseline - Watching:
diapers fill up
